Thursday, 16 December

Since 10 December, my right foot has swollen and the doctor thinks that I had twisted my ankle. It has been going on for three days however, so I consulted another doctor. This doctor thought it was arthritis, which is “gout” in English. In our Guangdong, we called it “Jiufengjiao”. My father died of it at 48. It happened that I suffered the same disease at 48. It was so strange. This disease is caused by over-drinking, but I never drank and shouldn’t suffer from this illness. I was bedridden and felt very unwell, but Hu always wanted to see me. I felt gratified.

The Generalissimo cabled me, saying that I should not go back for my mother’s funeral. The original telegram was as follows. Ambassador Fu of Moscow Chinese Embassy, I was really sad on learning about the passing of your mother. But now we are in a state of emergency, I hope that you can transform your filial piety into loyalty, and put aside the funeral for the country. This will be beneficial for Sino-Soviet relations, and use your work to console you regarding your mother. I hereby cable to pay my condolences. Chiang Kai-shek. 11. I immediately replied to this via telegram.